Posted on 03/15/2004 11:54:15 AM PST by lrslattery
The Vatican will publish strict new norms on the Eucharist next month, permanently changing the way Mass is celebrated throughout the world.
The Pope has authorised the publication of the norms on Holy Thursday, April 8, a year after his landmark encyclical on the Eucharist.
The final draft of the document, which is now being translated from Latin, will be a carefully edited version of the draft text leaked last September. The draft, which discouraged the reception of communion in both kinds and limited the role of altar girls, provoked an angry reaction from bishops in the English-speaking world.
After intensive episcopal lobbying, the Vatican is understood to have simplified the document and moderated some of the more controversial proscriptions.
The Catholic Herald has learned that the new norms will address some of the most divisive liturgical issues in the Catholic Church today. A source close to the Vatican said the document was part of a drive to "solemnise" the celebration of Mass and to counter a perceived lack of reverence for the Eucharist among Catholics.
It is also likely to challenge the view that the Second Vatican Council gave local bishops the authority to adapt the liturgy. It will also emphasise that Rome must guarantee the universality of the Mass.
And where exactly is it in the docs of the Second Vatican Council?
Right here: (Sacrosanctum Concilium)
30. To promote active participation, the people should be encouraged to take part by means of acclamations, responses, psalmody, antiphons, and songs, as well as by actions, gestures, and bodily attitudes.And here:
36. These norms being observed, it is for the competent territorial ecclesiastical authority mentioned in Art. 22, 2, to decide whether, and to what extent, the vernacular language is to be used;And here:
37. Even in the liturgy, the Church has no wish to impose a rigid uniformity in matters which do not implicate the faith or the good of the whole community; rather does she respect and foster the genius and talents of the various races and peoples. Anything in these peoples' way of life which is not indissolubly bound up with superstition and error she studies with sympathy and, if possible, preserves intact. Sometimes in fact she admits such things into the liturgy itself, so long as they harmonize with its true and authentic spirit.
Pushed by the Weaklands and Hubba Hubba Hubbards of the world.
I think too many people buy into the idea that the use of girl altar boys is merely about "inclusiveness."
It is, but in a much more fundamental way: it is pushed by those who would like to see a laity-run Church, with an eliminated, or at least, greatly reduced priesthood.
Much to the detriment of the boys, who are dropping out. Inclusiveness is so useful to the weaklands et al. It can mean more laity. It also, by inference, means more women all over the altar. In the words of the schismatic priest who implemented so many changes into our parish against direct orders of our liberal Bishop, "It gets us used to seeing women on the altar, paving the way for women priests". He took out the tabernacle, got his 'goal' of women on the altar vis a vis EEM's and altar girls, (citing the Vatican when they agree with the Vatican,) abolished (later reinstated) Eucharistic Adoration, the Rosary and weekly confession (yes, he routinely used communal confession), openly mocked his boss, our Pastor. He also said he didn't care if he were reprimanded or moved, the door to change had been opened and there was no going back. He was right. A dozen years later, the most grievous changes were fixed - sort of. Rosary is back, but not before every mass, only on Tuesday evenings. Adoration is back, but only every First Saturday. The Stations of the Cross are celebrated twice during Lent. You get the idea. And lay groups abound. From the reports of some here on FR, my parish is now 'normal'.
I teach Religious Ed. So many parents of boys would not even consider encouraging their sons to consider the priesthood. But many among the EEM's and the many lay groups and these parents - and most of them are women - demand a voice in running the parish (and get it) and openly discuss the 'day when women can be Priests.' Only a few of us disagree.
Ooh, that is a good one. I will be using that one.
They will be guidelines. Rome has already sent the signal that there will be no restrictions on Communion under both kinds, or altar girls, or, likely, applause (the Pope gets applauded in St. Peter's, during the liturgy).
A long-awaited new document on the Eucharist, delayed by high-level disagreements within the Vatican, will soon be made public. The document will not contain any striking innovations, CWN has learned.The new document, which was promised by Pope John Paul II when he released his encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia in April 2003, has been expected for several months. In September, the Italian monthly Jesus published what it claimed was the text of a draft version of the document, and reported that the draft had been rejected because it was deemed excessively conservative.
Several subsequent drafts have also met opposition, according to Vatican sources. The editors of the document-- which has been prepared primarly by the Congregation for Divine Worship-- were reportedly under heavy pressure to avoid causing controversy by taking positions that would be judged as extreme. The final document will avoid that danger by confining itself to a repetition of previous Vatican statements and standards. In effect, informed sources report, the new document will be a distilled version of the liturgical norms already published in the General Instructions for the Roman Missal.
In Ecclesia de Eucharistia, Pope John Paul had said that the new document would provide juridical norms regarding the celebration of the Eucharist. The purpose of the document, Vatican officials disclosed at the time, was to curtail liturgical abuse-- a problem that was viewed by the Holy See with grave concern.
In December 2003, the influential Jesuit journal Civilta Cattolica provided an insight into the current thinking of Vatican officials, in an article on the liturgical renewals since Vatican II. (Civilta Cattolica is generally seen as reflecting the views of Vatican officials, since all articles in the magazine are cleared in advance by the Secretariat of State.) The article condemned liturgical abuses and unauthorized innovations, but cautioned against responding to the abuse with new regulations.
"From an excessively rigid framework, we have passed over to an excessive freedom," the Civilta Cattolica article argued. The article spoke of "spontaneity without restraints" in liturgical celebrations. But it also warned against "a nostalgic return to formalism." The Jesuit journal made the argument that "abuses are best regulated not by reprimands," but by proper instruction and formation in proper liturgical celebration.
No it doesn't. The blog you link to says those restrictions are in the article, but they're not.
LOL!! I can remember asking my mother, as a kid, "why do all those people leave after Communion?"
People have ALWAYS left early, UR.
Especially since the "rules" said you fulfilled your "obligation" if you made it by Offertory and left after Communion.
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